“Thanks for coming to see us off,” Souji said, shrugging against the strap of his over-the-shoulder bag; the rest of their luggage was settled next to their families, waiting a little further down the platform, closer to the departure berth.
“I can't believe you're going to Tokyo,” Chie muttered, as she gave Yukiko another long hug.
The new bride chuckled as she pushed away. “Just for a few days,” she reminded Chie. “I can't be away from the ryokan for very long-”
“-And this is the start of the new term,” Souji finished with a smile. “I've got my classes to teach!”
“Well,” Chie said, dropping to her high heels again with a little bounce. “I want to hear all about it when you get back!”
“You realize they're going to spend most of their time in their hotel room,” Yousuke told her, and she replied with a quick and silencing jab in his ribs.
Souji shook his head and smiled at Yousuke, but Rise was more blasé:
“Tokyo's like Inaba, really,” the idol said. “Just bigger. And smoggier.”
“A lot bigger,” Souji muttered.
“A lot smoggier,” Yousuke said with a snicker.
There was chuckling around the group of friends, and then Naoto nodded to Souji.
“We shall make certain to check up on your apartment while you are away,” the detective said.
“Somebody's gotta be the responsible ones 'round here,” Kanji added with a teasing smirk.
Yukiko raised her hand. “Speaking of which,” she said. “If anything should...happen...while we're away-”
“-Don't call us,” Souji finished for her, and both Yousuke and Rise laughed, while the rest of them giggled softly.
Yukiko smiled. “But, seriously-” she began, and once again Souji cut her off:
“-Don't...call us,” he repeated with a grin.
“Understood,” Naoto said, chuckling gently.
Yukiko clicked her tongue while Souji continued to grin, but then he gazed around at them, softening to a friendly smile. “We should say goodbye to our folks,” he said. But he didn't move right away, instead measuring each of them in turn with a look of grateful kindness. “Thank you. For everything,” he told them.
Yukiko nodded. “If there's ever anything we can do, please don't hesitate to ask.”
“Actually,” Yousuke spoke up with another snicker. “There's this music shop in the Ginza-”
“Shut up,” Chie told him with a roll of her eyes, causing Souji and Yukiko to chuckle again.
Then Kuma hopped forward, tossing her arms around Souji's neck. “Be happy, Sensei,” she said, and then she did the same for Yukiko. “Yuki-chan, too, kuma.”
Souji nodded. “We'll see you when we get back,” he said, and then he took Yukiko by the hand, leading her over to the cluster of his family and hers.
I enjoyed the interactions between the friends, here, but - once again - it didn't really do anything to advance the plot. I thought that the recap given in the chapter as posted covers this well enough. And, I was having trouble transitioning from this scene at the train platform to the one that occurs in the apartment.
I'd also already done a goodbye scene at the train in the previous chapter (Chapter 59, "A Little Night Music") that more appropriately fit into the characterizations of Chie and Kuma and Yousuke (and the Terrible Trio).
I've found that the more I write Yukiko and Souji as a couple, the more I enjoy their interactions - and their relationships with the other characters. Yukiko has in many ways become quite like Souji, in the role she's taken with the other women in the story. Much like Souji is a guiding force for the team in general, Yukiko has become the same for the female contingent, though in a particularly womanly way. It's been an important friendship and relationship for Chie to have, and I'm glad that I've been able to showcase it to some degree.
"1 More Chance!" is winding down to a close very quickly (though perhaps not as quickly as some readers would like), but I'm looking forward to examining the (changed) relationships between the characters in more stories.
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